Something that is often quoted in marketing, is that people generally will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for ideas to sell more products or services online? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
Adding a directory to your site can lead to increased trust, increase your online credibility and get more prospects contacting you.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees to your WordPress site.
Adding An Employee List Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily staff members.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into your admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new entry will be added to the WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff members after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your directory groups. In your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups panel …
(Groups settings)
Note: Adding groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create the new directory group …
(Groups settings)
If you are a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Modify your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: Your staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Type in your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee or team member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field for entering a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
Your new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
***
After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site’s permalinks …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table with all your directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate entries …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that your staff entries appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your staff listings will now display Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Modern Team Staff Directory plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, image and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a list directory of staff members in your WordPress site.
Models used to depict staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum